A Surprising Family Reunion
by kam6670
Summary: Maggie and Gibbs have been married for 6 months and it's their first holiday together. Senior unexpectedly turns up and invites himself to the festivities. Can Maggie finally put the past behind her and forge a relationship with her father? ** This is a story that came to me when I was writing the original story...it's one of two that go with the original...**
1. Chapter 1

Christmas 2013

Gibbs drove the truck through the entrance to "Dowling's Christmas Tree Farm" and wound his way to the farthest part of the parking lot. He put the truck in park, turned the ignition off and turned to face his stunned wife. Maggie had no idea where they were going. Gibbs had been putting off getting a real Christmas tree for days, she was about to give up and have Jamie go with her to find one.

"Gibbs?" Maggie's face showed surprise. "I thought you didn't want to go get a tree."

"I didn't." He smiled and tugged at Maggie's ponytail.

"Then why are we here?"

Gibbs leaned closer to Maggie and cupped her cheek with his hand.

"Because my wife wants a real Christmas tree and if it makes my wife happy…" Gibbs didn't finish the sentence but instead, he kissed her. Not the typical 'my wife rocks' kiss, but the kiss he gave her when he wanted he to know that she could rock his world. One kiss led to another and before Maggie knew it she was almost flat on the front seat and the trucks windows were fogged up.

"Hey buster." Maggie pushed teasingly at Gibbs' shoulder. "Is this why you parked all the way over here? You wanted to go parking?"

Gibbs laughed. "Figured my plan out. Take you parking and forget about the tree."

Maggie swatted him on the shoulder. "Not going to work Gibbs. But I'll make you a deal."

Gibbs sat back up and took a second to adjust himself. "I'm listening."

"Help me pick out a tree and I promise you lots of sex when we get home."

"Lots huh?"

Maggie scooted up and went for her husband's weak spot, his earlobe. She nipped it between her teeth and whispered in his ear. "Lots."

The 6' Christmas tree was in its stand in front of the windows. Gibbs stood in front of it drinking his morning coffee. He smiled when he thought of how quickly they got the tree home, sized, into the house and it the stand. He was going to hold Maggie to her promise and she had more than delivered. He smirked to himself thinking how flexible his wife was.

"I hope that smile is because of me not the coffee you're drinking." Maggie said as she came down the stairs.

Gibbs smirked at Maggie as she walked past him and into the kitchen. A cup of coffee was already waiting for her on the counter along with the morning paper.

"You could have slept in today." Gibbs mentioned as he walked up behind Maggie and kissed her on the neck.

"Your Dad is going to be here soon. I don't want to be in bed dreaming about my husband when I need to get things ready around here." Maggie said as she tipped her neck to give Gibbs more room.

"What would be dreaming about?" he asked as he continued his attack on her neck.

Maggie didn't answer; instead she tipped her head back and kissed him. Gibbs' hands wandered over the soft material of Maggie's sweater. As they kissed, his fingers found the hem of the sweater and were about to slide up underneath when the front doorbell rang.

"My father has great timing." Gibbs said reluctantly as Maggie moved away from him to answer the front door.

"Hi Jackson." Maggie greeted her father in law at the door while Gibbs worked to calm his body parts some.

"Maggie, why don't you call me Dad?" Jackson hugged Maggie and stepped back to look at her.

"Because she has a Dad…Dad." Gibbs walked out to greet his father.

"You off to work already?" Jackson asked as Gibbs put his coat on. "Don't you want to have breakfast?"

"Coffee." Gibbs picked up his keys "Not much of a breakfast person."

"I try Jackson, but he just wants coffee." Maggie stepped on her tip toes and kissed Gibbs goodbye and then hooked her arm through Jackson's "But I've got all the makings for a wicked omelet."

"Wicked huh." Jackson grinned "That Boston accent again."

Gibbs watched his wife guide his father into the kitchen. That woman had a way with the men in his family.

"We still on for the annual Christmas tradition?" Tony asked the other members of the team.

"Wouldn't miss it." Ziva answered.

"I'll be there." McGee added.

"Boss? How about you? You coming?" Tony asked Gibbs about the team tradition of watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' in MTAC on Christmas Eve.

"Yup." Gibbs answered not looking up from his desk.

"Mags okay with it?" Tony wondered. The tradition hadn't involved significant others since none of them actually had them in the past. Well the year before his father had come, but this year his father had been vague about his holiday plans.

Gibbs took his glasses off and looked at Tony. For the past 6 months that Gibbs had been married to Tony's sister and for the few months before that they'd managed to keep work and personal apart. Except for the time that the lines crossed when Maggie was kidnapped.

"My Dad is in town and they'll be busy cooking for Christmas Day." He answered.

"What time are we due at dinner?" Ziva asked.

"Around two." Gibbs answered as he left the bullpen and went upstairs to the Directors office.

"We still are not exchanging gifts remember." Ziva reminded the other two. "We made a deal."

"Money to a charity." McGee stated that he remembered. "And we bring dessert or wine tomorrow."

"Maggie makes the best pies, so I'd go with wine or beer for Old Salty." Tony nodded up towards where Gibbs had gone.

"Or Bourbon." McGee added.

"Is this still strange for you Tony? Being related to Gibbs?" Ziva wanted to know.

"I'm getting used to it. Plus you have to admit, he is less grumpy."

"You've been around him before when he was married haven't you? I mean you've known him the longest." McGee asked.

"No. We met when he was divorcing #4. So this is the first time I've been around a married Gibbs." Tony told them.

"Who else is coming?" Ziva asked.

"There's us, Ziva, Ducky, Gibbs' Dad and Mike Franks daughter in law and granddaughter are coming too." Tony listed off the people.

"Jamie can't come?" Ziva wondered.

"He's on duty, hazard of being low man on the team."

"What about Senior?" McGee asked about the one person left in the family.

"I honestly don't know."

Maggie and Jackson spent the morning buying food for Christmas day. School was already on break so they were going to spend the day making cookies and pies. She'd had a good time with her father in law. He told Maggie what Gibbs was like when he was a child, how he was a happy child until his mother passed away. Jackson was a lot like her father in many ways; they would have loved meeting each other.

"You expecting company?" Jackson asked when he saw a car parked in front of the house.

"That's Jamie's car. I wonder what he's doing here."

Maggie pulled into the driveway and let her and Jackson in the back door.

"Jamie? You here?"

"In the living room Mom." Her son called out.

"Where is my grandson?" Jackson bellowed from the kitchen.

Maggie followed Jackson into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks.

"He's in here with his other grandfather."

"Special Agent Tony Di…..whoa…whoa…slow down Mags. What are you talking about?" Tony held the phone away from his ear. "He's what?"

Gibbs heard Tony answer the phone and new Maggie was on the phone.

"Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Tony asked his sister who was letting a string of swears loose on her end.

"She kisses me with that mouth and I like it." Gibbs said to Tony as he turned the corner. Tony cringed at Gibbs answer but Maggie was still yelling on her end.

"Okay, I'll deal with it." Tony hung up the phone.

"Maggie upset about something?" Ziva asked.

"Ya Think?!" Tony snapped back at her.

"Don't yell at Ziva cuz you pissed Maggie off." Gibbs said as his phone rang. He saw Maggie's number and knew he was about to find out what she was so mad at. "Yeah. Gibbs."

"Can I shoot my brother?"

"No." Gibbs laughed. "Why."

"He told my father where I live."

"We. Where we live." Gibbs corrected. "And that was almost a year ago."

Tony tried to make himself small at his desk. Gibbs was just about to give him one hell of a head slap.

"Well Senior is sitting in OUR living room with your father and my son."

"What?" Gibbs looked over at Tony.

"It's not my fault Boss." Tony said.

"Senior is in town for the DiNozzo family tradition and wants to stay with us."

Gibbs was staring daggers at Tony when he hung up the phone.

"Your father invited himself to my house for Christmas. So now I have my father and your father." Gibbs seethed.

"You know, it may be time that Maggie tries to forgive Dad. I mean you and your Dad made up. Christmas miracles and all." Tony shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

"Your father invited himself to my house for Christmas. So now I have my father and your father." Gibbs seethed.

"You know, it may be time that Maggie tries to forgive Dad. I mean you and your Dad made up. Christmas miracles and all." Tony shrugged.

"Tony, you gave out their address?" McGee was shocked.

"No. I swear I didn't." Tony defended himself. "Wait, how did he get the address?"

Gibbs knew the answer to that question and knew his stepson had his heart in the right place. Jamie told Gibbs that they'd had been communicating by email since they met. Jamie thought Senior was a good guy and that Maggie had given him a raw deal. Gibbs doubted that Jamie knew the entire story.

"Do you think it's a good idea; Maggie alone with Senior?" Tony wondered out loud. "I mean she has some crazy big knives in the kitchen. You know the ones I'm talking about Boss."

Gibbs didn't answer; Maggie wouldn't hurt Senior but she may threaten him.

"Maggie?"

Maggie stood at the kitchen sink, arms bracing herself, her head hung down as she tried to calm her emotions. The last thing she needed was Senior here.

"Hey Jackson." Maggie straightened her shoulders and turned to face her father in law.

"I'll make him leave if you want." The older Gibbs sat down on a stool. "This cane isn't just for walking."

Maggie smiled, like father like son, she thought.

"No. I have to figure this all out. That's all." Maggie walked over to Jackson and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm right here if you need me. Just holler." Jackson told her.

Maggie walked into the living room. Jamie was sitting on the couch; Senior was looking at the photos on the fireplace mantle.

"You were a beautiful bride." Senior said as he held the picture of Maggie and Gibbs on their wedding day. "I wish I could have been there to give you away."

Maggie took the picture from Senior and put it back where it belonged.

"You didn't the first time. Remember?" Maggie said rather snarkily.

"Mom." Jamie was shocked at how his mother was talking to her father. "I asked Grandpa to come here."

"Grandpa?" Maggie was shocked at how Jamie addressed Senior.

"I am his grandfather." Senior smiled. "What was he supposed to call me?"

Maggie opened and closed her mouth and decided to not answer that question. Instead she walked over to the still undecorated Christmas tree. Her plan had been to start baking cookies and decorate the tree with Jackson. That had been all shot to hell now.

"Jamie, can I have a minute with your Grandfather?"

"I don't know Mom, maybe I should stay in the room…."

"James Sullivan, I'm trying to keep as calm as I can right now. Go in the kitchen with Jackson. NOW."

Jamie knew that tone and when his mother used it, you had two choices; do what she said or you'd wish you had.

"You're so much like your mother Maggie. You've got that Irish temper that I loved about her." Senior looked at another picture of Maggie's mother holding Jamie as a baby. "You've got her hair and eyes too."

Maggie pinched the top of her nose and tried to focus. Losing her temper would not help things now.

"Listen Senior, it's taking all my self-control to not throw you out on the street. I'm still not ready to forgive you for what happened with Joe."

Senior walked over to Maggie and put his hands on her shoulders. Maggie didn't flinch, but her body stiffened.

"Maggie, I swear to you that I never ever meant any harm. I honestly believed that he was just trying to set things straight with you."

"A total stranger comes up to you in a hotel bathroom, knows that you're the father of a daughter whom you're not close to and convinces you to go to DC to find me. You'd of had a better chance of getting Tony to bring you here."

Senior released Maggie's shoulders and went to stand by the tree.

"I actually did ask Tony to tell me where to find you. He said no."

"Maybe you should have listened to him."

Senior said nothing as he looked out the window. Dark clouds were forming in the sky. The weather man had predicted a Christmas blizzard. When he didn't speak for a few moments, Maggie turned to look at him. Senior had aged recently, he seemed so much older than the last time she had seen him at Gibbs' house.

"Why are you here Senior?"

"You just can't call me Dad can you?" Senior said quietly.

"You aren't my Dad. Seamus was my father, he was the one who raised me and was there for me."

"And I wasn't." Senior stated. "I've made a lot of mistakes with you and with Junior."

Maggie saw Gibbs and Tony pull into the driveway. She watched as they walked to the back door and waited...

"I suppose Gibbs will throw me out now." Senior said somewhat dejectedly.

"Son, I'd give them a few minutes." Jackson said to Gibbs when he took his jacket off in the kitchen. "I told Maggie I'd be here if she needed back up." Jackson tapped his cane on the floor.

"Don't worry Dad." Gibbs told his father and then turned to look at Jamie. He gestured for Jamie to follow him out the back door.

"Ooh, someone's in trouble." Tony said quietly to Jamie which earned him a head slap from Gibbs.

"Better you than me." Jamie told his uncle.

"Yours is coming." Gibbs told his step son. "Follow me."

Jamie followed Gibbs into the garage and shut the door behind him. Standing at attention, Jamie waited for Gibbs to say something.

"You don't have to stand at attention." Gibbs told him as he searched his work bench for something. "I just want to know…" Gibbs turned to face Jamie… "Why in the hell did you bring Senior here?"

Jamie relaxed and walked over to the work table and sat down on one of the stools. He ran his hands over his buzz cut hair a few times.

"When I met Grandpa DiNozzo, I really liked him. He's a lot like me or I'm a lot like him."

Gibbs sat down on the other side of the work table with two small jars filled with bourbon and handed one to Jamie.

"You're nothing like Senior. Trust me; I've seen him at his worst." Gibbs took a sip of his drink.

"I know what happened was bad." Jamie agreed.

"Ya think?" Gibbs replied.

"But I've been talking to him a lot lately and he really does sound like he wants to make amends with Mom. He keeps talking about all the time he's missed with Uncle Tony and her."

Jamie took a sip of the drink and choked a little. "Bit hard don't you think?"

"Acquired taste." Gibbs finished his own drink.

"I just …." Jamie continued. "Things are really great now. We're a family. You, me, Mom, Uncle Tony, Grandpa Jackson and it's Christmas and I just wanted Mom to try and even if she still calls him Senior that she just tries to listen to him and make him feel welcome."

Jamie looked up at his step-father.

"Am I making any sense?"

"Yeah son, you are." Gibbs

"They've been out there a long time." Tony said to Jackson as they sat at the kitchen island. He ran his hands over the granite top. "They really need a kitchen table. No way everyone can sit here for Christmas Dinner."

The back door opened and Gibbs and Jamie came back in to the kitchen. Gibbs stopped at the refrigerator and pulled out a beer for himself, popped the cap off and took a long sip of it.

"Everything okay Boss?" Tony asked.

"He makes you call him Boss even here?" Jackson was shocked.

Gibbs gave his father the 'really Dad' look as he walked into the living room.

"Habit." Tony told Jackson. "Things may get really ugly now."

"I guess congratulations are in order Gibbs." Senior walked over to Gibbs and shook his hand. "Maggie's a wonderful girl."

"Yes she is." Gibbs let go of Seniors hand and bent down to kiss Maggie on the top of the head.

"Well I guess I should ask Jamie to take me back to the hotel." Senior walked over to the chair where he had put his jacket.

"Where you going?" Gibbs asked. Maggie reached out and grabbed Gibbs wrist and gave him a look that screamed 'what are you up to?'.

"I think I may have overstepped my bounds…again." Senior said sadly.

Gibbs reached for Seniors jacket and hung it in the hall closet. Senior and Maggie's faces showed different levels of confusion.

"Stay for dinner. I'm going to grill some steaks." Gibbs told Senior.

"In this weather? It's freezing out."

"Nah, just a bit chilly." Gibbs and Senior walked back down the hall to the kitchen leaving a completely stunned Maggie alone in the living room.


	3. Chapter 3

Maggie was very quiet, too quiet Tony thought as he walked into the living room. A quiet Maggie was a scary Maggie; Tony knew this all too well.

"Mags?" he approached his sister quietly "You okay?"

"I don't know Tony. Pinch me." Maggie turned to face her brother

"What?" Tony shook his head confused.

"Pinch me. I need to know if this is a dream or nightmare."

"Okay." Tony reached out and pinched Maggie on the arm.

"Ow!" she yelped.

"You told me to."

"So it's not a dream. My husband is out on the patio grilling steaks for Senior."

"Fraid so." Tony wrapped his sister in a hug and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"My husband invited Senior to dinner." Maggie's voice was muffled since she was speaking into Tony's chest.

"Yup. It's our own family version of 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'. The 1967 classic…Spencer Tracy. Sydney Por….Ow! What was that for?"

Maggie had pinched Tony back on his side. "I know the movie Tony."

"You sure about this son? Maggie doesn't seem too happy with it." Jackson brought out the tray of steaks to Gibbs at the grill.

Gibbs placed the steaks on the grill and watched them for a few minutes.

"Dad, we didn't talk for a long time." Gibbs started.

"No, no we didn't." Jackson sat down on one of the patio chairs near the grill.

"And it took us time, but we're okay."

"Yes, yes we are."

"What do you know about Maggie and her father?" Gibbs closed the top of the grill and sat down across from his father.

"I know he walked away and never looked back. Didn't give a rat's ass about her."

Gibbs took a drink of his beer and nodded his head. "More or less."

"And because he wasn't smart enough to see through that bastards lies, he almost got her killed."

Again, Gibbs nodded.

"But you think they can come to some kind of an impasse? You sure you want to step into this son?"

"Maggie's my wife, Dad."

"Un huh." Jackson agreed.

"Jamie is my step son and he's the reason Senior is here. He thinks the guy wants to make some kind of amends for the past."

"And you? What do you think?"

Gibbs was silent for a few minutes. "I think if he's conning his way in again, I'll kill him myself."

"Can I help with anything?" Senior asked Maggie as she set about working inside making dinner.

Jamie had gotten called back to base and Tony was sent out to the garage to grab the extra stools for him and Senior to use at the island.

"Can you reach the wine glasses?" Maggie asked Senior. There was no avoiding him being there so she promised herself she'd at least be a polite hostess in her own home.

"Absolutely." Senior opened the cabinet where Maggie had pointed. "How come you don't have a regular dining room?"

"The house didn't come with one. Gibbs and I are thinking about adding an addition off the kitchen in the spring."

"I suppose he'll build it." Senior placed five glasses on the table.

"He will."

"Are you happy? Married to Gibbs I mean?"

Maggie put the asparagus in the steamer and bent over to check the potatoes in the oven.

"Yes, I'm very happy. We're very happy. Gibbs is wonderful." Maggie looked up at Senior. "I don't just marry for the sake of marrying." Maggie made a snide comment about Seniors many marriages. She'd lost count of how many step-mothers she had.

"How about Junior. Does he like having his Boss for a brother in law?"

"Tony wasn't happy at first, even if he said he was, but it took time. He's okay with it now. We manage to keep work and family as apart as we can."

"What about Jamie? He avoids the subject of Gibbs when we talk." Senior pulled out a bottle of wine and uncorked it to let it breath before pouring it.

"Jamie knows there is tension between you two. But he and Gibbs have really bonded. They have a lot in common."

"Marines?"

Maggie nodded and took the baked potatoes out of the oven. "That and fishing and other things guys his age confide in their fathers about."

"I am sorry about what happened to James." Senior said.

"Senior." Maggie faced him. "If we are to get through this meal, you have to avoid things like that with me. Understand?"

"Understand."

"Understand what?" Tony asked as he came in carrying the tray of steaks, followed by Jackson and Freckles who was drooling hoping someone would drop something on the floor for her to get.

"Mags, Gibbs needs you outside." Tony whispered as he passed his sister.

Maggie wrapped herself in one of Gibbs' jackets that was hanging by the door. She smiled at the sight of her husband standing there in his off work uniform of jeans, work boots and a Marine sweatshirt. Cold never really got to him. Man was a master of layering clothes. Just like she was a master of getting him out of all those layers. She couldn't help staring at his butt; it was such a nice butt.

Gibbs was cleaning off the grill with a brush, he heard Maggie's footsteps as she crossed the porch and came down the stairs. He also caught the scent of her perfume in the cold evening air. Maggie walked up behind Gibbs and wrapped her arms around him, burying her nose in the soft tee shirt material and squeezed him tight. She loved the smell of his deodorant and the ever present scent of saw dust on his sweatshirts. Gibbs used his free hand to bring one of her hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

"I take it you're not that mad at me." he commented as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"No, I'm mad at you, but not mad enough to kick you out of bed and make you sleep on the couch tonight." Maggie moved around to stand in front of her husband, her arms still wrapped around him. "But I'd like to know what you're up to."

"Who me?" Gibbs smirked. "What makes you think I'm up to something?" he asked as he finished with the grill brush and put it next to the grill.

Maggie cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Gibbs.

"On a good day you would tolerate Senior, but after what happened with Antonelli…"

"He's lucky I didn't kill him when he came to the house that day." Gibbs finished and kissed Maggie on the nose.

"So, what miracle happened that you and Senior are breaking bread together?"

"I know Jamie brought him here under honest motive, but I don't trust Senior." Gibbs used his thumb to brush off a snowflake that had fallen onto Maggie's cheek. "And before he hurt someone else in our family, I want to see what he's got up his sleeve."

The snow had begun to fall hours earlier than the weather reports had said. Maggie looked up at the skies and sighed. Gibbs loved the look on Maggie's face as she looked skyward, snowflakes falling more frequently on her face.

"We'd better get in before I decide to take you over to the garage and make all this up to you." Gibbs leaned down and placed kisses on her neck.

"Hmmm…maybe they won't notice if we disappear for a few minutes." Maggie smiled.

"I think I need more than a few minutes for what I have planned." Gibbs kissed Maggie again while Tony called to them from the back door.

"I'd tell you two to get a room, but I'm afraid you really will."

"Sometimes I really don't like your brother." Gibbs put his arm around Maggie's shoulder and began walking for the door.

"Sometimes, neither do I." Maggie whispered to Gibbs.

"Looks like the snow is starting early." Jackson said as he used a fork to put the potatoes on everyone's plates.

"Any one hear the forecast?" Maggie took the asparagus from the steamer and put it on a plate.

Gibbs took out his ever present knife from his pocket and cut the steaks in half and put a piece on each plate.

"Don't you use a kitchen knife?" Jackson asked his son. "I taught you better than that."

Tony took his knife out of his pocket and just like Gibbs, used that intstead of a steak knife to cut the meat.

"Mm. This is good. What do you do to it." Senior wanted to know.

Gibbs chewed while he answered. "I just cook it til it's done and pour some beer on it."

"Saying 6-12 inches." Tony answered Maggie's earlier question after he put sour cream on his potato.

"I heard 12-16." Gibbs added stealing the sour cream from Tony.

"Guess we'll be heading back to the store in the morning." Jackson told Maggie.

"God, up in Boston the stores must be going nuts. People hear Nor'easter and it's like the world is ending." Maggie told the men at the table.

"Blizzard of 78." Senior said. "That was awful."

"A whole month off of school." Maggie said. "One week of February vacation, then the week off for the blizzard, then I got pneumonia…"

"From the blizzard?" Senior asked. Maggie tried to convince herself that he was being sincere.

"I honestly don't remember, but the next week the doctors said I couldn't go to sleep away camp."

"Sleep away camp? Teenage girls from an all-girl Catholic school. In the wilderness, trying to keep warm." Tony let his imagination run for a bit and Maggie smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey, that's my move." Gibbs laughed at his wife.

"Yeah Mags." Tony rubbed the back of his head. "And you hit harder."

Tony may be a lot of things, but one that helped that night during dinner was his ability to avoid awkward moments in conversations. If Senior strayed in to territory that involved his past and exploits and name dropping, Tony brought him back to the here and now. Jackson did his best to keep stories of a young Gibbs to a minimum so that his son wouldn't make him leave and stay at a hotel. Before long, the dinner plates were cleared and coffee was being refilled in mugs.

"It's getting late Dad. I should get you to your hotel before the snow really starts." Tony brought his coffee cup to the sink.

"You may want to rethink that." Jackson said from the kitchen door where he had just let the dog out into the yard.

"Holy hell, when did that happen?"

During dinner the intensity of the snow fall had picked up. In two hours the snow had begun to fall heavily and almost 3 inches was on the ground.

"I'll get my shovel and clear a path." Gibbs said as he put on his jacket and grabbed a pair of gloves from the basket next to the door. But before Gibbs got the second glove on his cell phone went off.

"Yeah, Gibbs." He looked at Maggie as he listened to one of the NCIS agents tell him where he was needed. "Okay, DiNozzo's with me, call McGee and David and tell them where to go."

"Boss?" Tony knew they weren't going out to shovel.

"Crime scene. Quantico. Gear in the car?" Gibbs asked Tony who was already starting out the door.

Gibbs walked over and kissed Maggie on the cheek. "Not Jamie." He whispered.

"I know." She cupped his face and kissed him. "Be safe. Roads are getting slippery."

Gibbs loved that Maggie was more concerned about the roads than about a crime scene.

"You going to be okay with the two of them?" he nodded over to Senior and Jackson.

"Oh, just ducky."

"Hope I won't need him here." Gibbs kissed Maggie quickly and went out the back door.

Senior clapped his hands together.

"I guess I'm spending the night." He declared.

Maggie shook her head and wondered if she'd be crazy enough to go grab Gibbs' bourbon in the garage.


	4. Chapter 5

Christmas Eve Day

Tony stood at the windows near his desk watching the snow fall. Roads had been closed around noon earlier in the day. It was Christmas Eve and he was going to spend yet another one here at NCIS offices. He looked forward to watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' as they always did in MTAC, but that was a choice, but that was a choice, now it felt like they were trapped.

He flipped open his cell phone and thought again about calling Maggie, and then closed it. She must be ready to kill him, but Senior being there wasn't his fault.

"She knows that you aren't to blame for Senior."

Tony jumped when Gibbs spoke.

"Really need to teach me how you do that. Sneaking up on people." Tony told Gibbs. "How'd you know I was thinking about Senior?"

"You've been looking at your phone all morning and you haven't called to check in."

"Maggie tell you that?"

"Nope." Gibbs took a sip of coffee. The heavy snow was keeping him from his usual coffee place and the stuff in the vending machine wasn't the same. "I haven't called yet."

Tony looked at Gibbs amazed.

"You haven't talked to your wife? We've been gone for over 12 hours."

Gibbs nodded. "I know how long we've been on the case. Maggie is used to me being stuck here."

"But still, it's a blizzard out there, the roads are closed and she's with your dad and my…our dad….Did you ever see any Stephen King movies? Snow, isolation, family dysfunction…..there's going to be blood."

Gibbs smirked at Tony and turned around to walk to his desk.

"Call your sister Tony; I'll talk to her after."

Tony flipped open his phone and tried Maggie's cell.

"No answer Boss."

Gibbs gave him an annoyed look. "Try the land line."

"Yeah, that was next." Tony sat at his desk and picked up the phone and paused. "What's the land line Boss? I always call her on her cell."

"Never mind." Gibbs picked up his desk phone and dialed his home.

"Hullo."

"Hey Dad, how's things going there?"

Jackson put down the baking sheet he had been putting in the oven.

"Things are fine here. Tony and I are baking cookies."

Gibbs mouth dropped open as he listened to his father.

"And Maggie's outside using the snow blower. Wife of yours is crazy. I keep telling her to wait."

"If you wait too long then you can't use it at all. The snow will be too high."

"That's what she said. She went out earlier in the morning to do the walks and the driveway so you'll have someplace to park when you get home. Speaking of that, any idea when that'll be?"

"Nope. Major roads are being worked on right now. Looks like we may be spending Christmas Eve here."

"Damn son, Maggie's going to be disappointed."

"Not you Dad?" Gibbs laughed.

"Hell no, I get the company of a pretty woman who appreciates my holiday spirit."

"Maggie is that Dad." Gibbs agreed. "How are things between her and her father?"

"First time you've referred to him as that." Jackson told his son.

Gibbs didn't respond.

"Things are pretty good here. Tony and I have been making cookies and he has one hell of an egg nog recipe."

"Family secret is the whiskey." Senior said as he put the cooled off snicker doodles on a tray.

Maggie came in the back door after finishing the latest round of snow removal.

"Here she is now son."

Jackson handed Maggie the cordless phone. "Give me your jacket before you freeze." He told her.

"You enjoying yourself?" Gibbs asked his wife.

"Snow blowing, love it. It's quiet and peaceful out there."

"Not inside huh?"

"It's actually not too bad. My kitchen is filled with the smell of fresh baked cookies, there's Christmas music playing and spiked egg nog in the fridge."

"And how are you?"

Maggie had taken the phone upstairs to the bedroom for some privacy.

"I talked to Senior for a little last night after you called."

"And?" Gibbs wanted to know if he was right.

"And he genuinely wanted to spend Christmas with his family. It's a bitter pill to swallow, our conversation didn't end in hugs and kisses and fatherly love. He admitted that he avoided me when I was young because he didn't want to remember how things used to be. And that hurt."

Gibbs was angry. He could hear the hurt in his wife's voice. "I'm going to come home."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs you are not going to try and come home. The roads suck, it's still snowing and I'd rather you are safe and warm at work then stuck in a snow bank, your car wrapped around a tree."

Gibbs knew when Maggie used his whole name she meant business.

"Besides, it's getting late; I'm going to go start dinner when the cookie shop finishes up. It was just going to be me and your Dad tonight while you did your thing with the team..."

Gibbs turned around in his chair to shield his conversation some now that Ziva and McGee had come back from raiding the various vending machines for food.

"Maggie, I don't want you to wake up Christmas morning alone."

"Honey, I'm not alone. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the roads will be open and you can get everyone here for dinner."

Gibbs was quiet.

"Gibbs, I mean it. Don't try to drive home tonight."

"No promises." Gibbs told her.

"Fine. But if you get in an accident coming home I will kill you." Maggie warned. "And I'll tell Ducky to give you lousy autopsy stitches."

Gibbs smiled into the phone. "Merry Christmas Maggie. I love you."

McGee, Ziva and Tony all heard Gibbs say that. Their shocked faces looked at each other as Gibbs hung the phone up. Gibbs ignored them as he opened his bottom desk drawer and looked at Maggie's Christmas present. They had said no big gifts this year. Neither of them really needed or wanted anything, they had all they needed, but Gibbs had started his gift not long after they had gotten married. To keep Maggie from snooping he'd leave it locked in his truck when he wasn't working on it and bring it to w cork when he was there.

"Ziva David." Ziva answered her phone when it rang. "Shalom to you too Maggie, what can I help you with?"

Gibbs peeked around his computer and looked over at Ziva. Why was Maggie calling Ziva.

"Yes, I completely understand, it is too dangerous…I will…..I will make sure that he does not…You did? Okay, I will check. Merry Christmas."

Ziva looked over at Gibbs who was waiting.

"Well? Do I have to guess?" Gibbs asked his agent.

"Maggie has given me express orders to make sure you do not attempt to drive home until the roads are clear."

Gibbs snickered and looked back at the paperwork on his desk.

"I have permission to do whatever it takes to stop you."

"I'd pay money to see that. Gibbs vs. David. Who would win?" Tony pondered out loud.

"My money would be on Ziva." McGee said from his desk causing Gibbs to give him a look of disbelief. "Come on Boss, you'd never hit Ziva."

"If it meant stopping me from getting home to spend Christmas with my wife I might." Gibbs commented.

Ziva put her hands on Gibbs' desk and leaned forward. "And your wife would kill me if anything happened to you. I like your wife."

"What did Maggie want you to check on?" Gibbs asked Ziva.

"It appears that Maggie cooked up a surprise with Abby and we are to go down to Abby's lab."

Gibbs stood up and told the team to follow him to the elevator.

"They're here." Abby said to Maggie who had called after she hung up with Ziva. "I'll make sure too. Merry Christmas."

"What's the surprise Abs?" Gibbs started to ask and then he saw the food on the table Abby had set up in her office.

"Maggie knew you'd be here for Christmas Eve so she wanted you all to have something good to eat." Maggie handed everyone a paper plate and some plastic silverware.

"Where did you keep this all?" McGee asked as he saw the trays of lasagna, eggplant parmesan, meatballs and sauce along with rolls and salad.

"I kept it in a freezer in the morgue." Ducky said as he came in with a cart of waters and soda and ice.

"Alone right?" Tony wanted to know.

Gibbs slapped Tony on the back of the head.

"And I heated it up in here."

"When did she plan all this?" McGee asked Gibbs.

"Damned if I know." He answered as he piled lasagna on his plate.

"She and I cooked it up." Ducky admitted. "We were talking about Christmas Day and I told her she should come to the annual film showing in MTAC, but she declined. Something about it not being a favorite movie and that some traditions should be kept."

"How does anyone not like 'It's a Wonderful Life'? Even I like it and I don't celebrate Christmas." Ziva commented.

"It's DiNozzo thing." Tony muttered. "Movie reminds her too much of my Dad and she never watches it."

Gibbs took his plate and walked out into Abby's outer lab. The only light in the room came from the strings of lights Abby had hung up. He looked up at the windows and wished he could be home with Maggie right now. He wanted to thank her for thinking of his team and setting all this up with Ducky.

"Don't make me use my handcuffs." Abby said as she came to stand next to him.

"You too Abs?"

"Maggie doesn't want to lose you because you have to be stubborn and do things your way." Abby threaded her arm though Gibbs' and rested her head on his shoulder. "Maggie really loves you."

Gibbs nodded his head. "I know Abs."

"And you don't have to say it, but I know you really love her too. I can tell. I've never seen you look this content."

Gibbs kissed Abby on the top of her head.

"But if you try to leave, I will handcuff you to Mass Spec."


	5. Chapter 6

"I'm not the biggest fan of this movie." Maggie protested as Jackson pushed her into the living room.

"Everyone loves 'It's a Wonderful Life'." Jackson steered Maggie to the couch and then sat beside her with Senior on the other side of Maggie.

"Why do you keep your television in that cabinet thingy?" Jackson pointed over to the armoire on the wall by the fire place.

"Gibbs and I don't watch much television. The only reason we have this one is because Tony bought it for us as a wedding gift."

"So why not hang it up on the all or over the fireplace. Isn't that where most people put flat screened televisions?" Senior commented.

"Most people, yes. Gibbs and I found the armoire at a junk yard and I refinished it. So now the TV is in the living room but I don't have to see it all the time." Maggie leaned forward and picked up her cup of egg-nog and took a sip.

"Jeez, a little heavy handed with the whiskey Senior?"

"Family recipe." He told her and picked up the remote. "How do you use this thing?"

Maggie was trapped. She did not want to watch this movie at all. Gibbs had asked Maggie to come to NCIS to watch it with the rest of them, but she declined. She remembered watching the movie when she was younger with Senior and when Tony got older, he'd go on about watching it with him and how wonderful it was and how great Senior was that particular Christmas. Maggie knew Tony was just trying to convince himself that Senior was a good guy. He still tried to convince himself of that. But Maggie resented Seniors absence all those years and this movie was a big reminder of it.

Gibbs and the team watched the movie in MTAC; but Gibbs' mind wasn't in Bedford Falls and he wasn't following George Bailey's journey to see what would happen if he hadn't been born. From the moment George told Mary that he'd lasso the moon and pull it down to give to her, his thoughts had been on Maggie. He knew he'd do the same thing for Maggie. How he'd been blessed to be able to feel this way again was beyond his imagination. He'd done so much damage to his own life and several women along the way; he should have been cursed to stay alone the rest of his life alone. But he wasn't and right now he wanted to go home, carry Maggie up to their bedroom, lock them in and show her how much she meant to him.

The movie ended finally and Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up the empty glasses and took them into the kitchen and put them in the sink. Outside the kitchen window, the snow had finally stopped. Neighbors were out again with snow blowers making room for Santa's visit.

"News man just said the roads should be open by morning." Senior's voice made Maggie jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't. My mind was just somewhere else." Maggie whistled for the dog and let Freckles out into the back yard.

"You know;" Senior began to say "Junior and I loved watching that movie at Christmas time."

"Dad, you know what? I hate that movie. When it would come on at Christmas all I could think of is that you couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and call me. Not once after Tony's mom died did you even try. I know all my gifts came from her; you probably didn't even know she did that did you? But you knew that she willed me the pearls and wanted them back. I wasn't family I believe was what you said. "

Senior knew Maggie was angry; he didn't even try to stop Maggie. He doubted that she even knew what she'd said.

"That movie reminds me that in your eyes, I was never born. Tony was your first born from your new life. Me? I was the child from the life you wanted to forget about. The life that embarrassed you. Out of site out of mind. Mom and Dad tried to help me understand, but how do you tell a little girl that her birth father, he didn't send a birthday gift. He wasn't there for her graduation. You were invited to my wedding, granted you weren't going to walk me down the aisle, but no, what do you do? I get card and a check from wife number who knows what and not signed but a stamped signature. "

Maggie was pacing back and forth across the kitchen. Jackson stayed in the living room ready to step in if he was needed. He knew Maggie had a few egg nogs and the whiskey had loosened her tongue up.

"How about when Jamie was born. I know that Tony bought the gift that was supposed to be from you, he tried to forge your signature, but I never told him that I knew. And the best of the best. James' funeral. You sent flowers signed Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo – sorry for your loss. Nice sentiment."

Jackson cringed, thought that topped the date bringing.

"You never even called when Mom died. Not a card, not flowers not anything. And now, you show up to get to know your grandson that you never had time for before."

Tears were streaming down Maggie's face. Senior wanted to go to her and hug her and tell her the truth, his truth, not some story, but why he really stayed away from her and to try and make up for all the mistakes.

"I'm going to bed. Merry Christmas." Maggie barked at Senior and stomped up the stairs. Jackson came into the kitchen and took out two glasses from the cabinet and carried the whiskey to the table. He splashed some liquid in each glass and pushed one towards Senior.

"That was the first time she's ever called me Dad."

Tony, McGee and Ziva made make shift beds behind their desks. Abby was in her lab sleeping and Ducky had found someplace to camp out for the night. Gibbs sat at his desk, watching the news updates on mute on the television. At three a.m. the roads had been declared open.

"Hey, guys…" Gibbs called to his team members quietly. When they didn't respond, he went and shook them each gently to wake them up.

"Roads are open, time to go home."


	6. Chapter 4

Senior clapped his hands together.

"I guess I'm spending the night." He declared.

Maggie shook her head and wondered if she'd be crazy enough to go grab Gibbs' bourbon in the garage.

*Midnight*

"Boss, the snow is really coming down now."

"I can see that McGee. What's your point?" Gibbs asked his agent.

"Reports are saying the roads may close down soon."

Gibbs took his NCIS baseball cap off and rubbed the top of his head before putting it back on. Ducky already had the body back at autopsy, Tony and Ziva were questioning the deceased's roommates and he and McGee were standing inside the ice cold garage where the victim's body had been found. They still had to go back to the office to question the suspect. At the rate the snow was falling Gibbs new he was going to be stuck at the office and Maggie was going to be snowed in at home with his father and Senior.

"We're done here. Let's head back." Gibbs handed McGee the keys.

"You want me to drive?"

"That's why I gave you the keys McGee."

Once inside the truck, Gibbs cranked the heat to take the chill out of the cab and flipped open his cell phone. It was now 12:30 a.m., he hated to call Maggie that late, but he wanted to make sure everything was okay.

"Hello." Maggie's voice came across the line.

"You still up?"

"I made a fire earlier and I'm waiting for it to die down before heading upstairs."

"Everything okay?"

"Do you mean have I killed anyone yet or tossed anyone's butt out in the storm? The answer is no. I will admit that I snuck out to the garage once and tossed back some of your bourbon."

"There's some in the cabinet in the kitchen." Gibbs reminded her. "You didn't need to go out in the storm."

"I needed to bring the snow blower out from there so I figured a little liquid courage wouldn't hurt. How's it where you are."

"Well if McGee could drive a little slower than…."Gibbs leaned over to read the speedometer "20 miles an hour we may not get stranded."

"Being cautious Boss."

"Be cautious a little faster." Gibbs told him. "I don't think I'll be home before morning."

"Just be safe on the roads. Call me later when you can. I love you."

"Me too." Gibbs ended the call. Maggie knew he'd never say I love you back to her when he was at work and others were around. It didn't bother her. She knew he loved her. He may not use his words to say it but he told her in many other ways.

"Was that Gibbs?"

Maggie looked up to see Senior standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, doesn't look like he'll make it home tonight." Maggie shifted her body to sit up on the couch and pulled the afghan over her lap. "Why are you up? Do you need anything?"

Senior looked out the window and shuddered. "Coming down faster now. Looks like it's almost a foot."

"We'll be okay. When it slows down enough I'll go out and use the snow blower."

"You can use that?" Senior looked over at his daughter.

"Yeah, I can. It snows in Boston too, worse than this. James used to do it but after he died, I took over a lot of the things I took for granted." Maggie explained.

"Where did you get this ornament?" Senior was looking at the tree and the handmade ornament that one of her students had made for her. It was a Popsicle snowflake with Mrs. Gibbs written in a child's printing.

"One of my students made it for me." Maggie explained. "There should be three or four more."

"All the years that you've been teaching, I thought you'd have more like these." Senior commented.

"I did…once." Maggie fiddled with the edge of the afghan.

"Once?" Senior asked as he sat down on the other end of the couch.

Maggie wasn't completely comfortable being this close to Senior. She fought the urge to just get up and go to bed; but she stayed put.

"The Christmas after James died, I was …" Maggie searched for the right word. "I was depressed. I didn't want to do the whole Christmas thing, but I had to for Jamie. When it was all over, I just threw everything out without realizing what I was doing. And then the next Christmas I could only find a handful of ornaments."

"You threw them all out? You must have been heart broken. All those years of memories."

Maggie nodded. "And some that were just plain ugly, but I kept them anyways." Maggie smiled.

"Like Nana DiNozzo's ornaments?" Senior grinned. When he left Maggie and her mother, he left most of the things his mother had given them; including Christmas ornaments brought over from 'the old country'.

"God I always hated those cherubs." Maggie laughed. "Those were the scariest things I'd ever seen. It took me years to go near the tree at Christmas time."

"They were pretty evil looking." Senior agreed.

Maggie bit her lip as a wave of nostalgia washed over her. For years when she was little, she longed for some time like this; just her and her father talking.

"Senior." Maggie started. "Why did you just walk away from us? I can understand you and Mom not loving each other and growing apart. Mom found her soul mate in Seamus, but you just…you just forgot about me."

Maggie felt the tears stinging the back of her eyes. Maybe Gibbs was right, maybe Senior was here for a reason but if that was true, then she'd never see him again and she wanted answers.

"Maggie, I never forgot about you. Hold on one second."

Senior got up and walked to the hall closet and took his wallet out of his coat pocket. He brought it back into the living room and sat on the couch. He opened his wallet and reached into a hidden fold in the back to pull out some dog eared pictures and showed them to her.

"This is your first communion." The picture was taken on the altar of St. Mary's in Boston. Maggie was 7 years old, dressed in her white communion dress, frilly socks, white leather shoes and her veil. She remembered that her mother had pin curled her hair for the occasion.

"Where did you get this?" Maggie asked quietly.

"Turn it over."

"Tony – Our girl looks beautiful – Love Liz."

"Mom sent this to you?"

"And this one."

The next one was Maggie's high school yearbook photo.

"God, look at my hair! Talk about 80's hair." Maggie laughed.

"I think you look beautiful, but this is my favorite."

The third picture was of her and Tony on her wedding day. Maggie in her wedding gown and Tony in his tux; they looked so young.

"Your step-father sent me that one."

"I don't understand." Maggie handed the pictures back to him. "Mom never told me she sent you pictures. You wouldn't even see me when I came to visit Tony when he was little.

"I don't have a good excuse for my behavior. I was wrong. Plain and simple. The money went to my head. There was never enough for me. Then I'd take a chance and I'd lose some and panic and need to make more. Then Tony's mom died and I was lost. I couldn't see you without her there. She loved you in case you didn't know."

"I knew." Maggie said softly.

"She loved having a daughter. We'd go out to parties and when people asked about Tony she'd go on about you too. She would get mad if anyone ever commented on how you were really a red headed step child."

Maggie made a face at her father.

"One time she threw a glass of wine in a woman's face when the woman made that comment. She told her that her red headed step child was the best thing that ever happened to her."

"But your red headed child….you never talked about me did you?"

"Not often, not to people who weren't family."

The room got quiet. Maggie knew the truths, she'd always guessed them but to hear him say it out loud, it was a fresh pain all over again.


	7. Chapter 7

**_** Warning…I'm going to have a little mature nature in this chapter ** wink wink**_**

By three thirty in the morning, Gibbs and Tony had finally made it back to Gibbs' house. Tony wanted to make sure everything was okay in Casa Gibbs as he had called it. They quietly came into the kitchen and took off their shoes and jackets.

"You get the couch, the spare room is taken. I'll get you a blanket and pillow." Gibbs told Tony.

"I've never slept here before." Tony said looking somewhat perplexed.

"What?" Gibbs asked seeing Tony's face.

"You and Maggie will be upstairs, in bed, together."

"Yeah, that's how we usually sleep."

"I know." Tony was hoping that was all that they would be doing tonight.

Gibbs however had other plans in mind. As he took the blanket and pillow out of the downstairs linen closet, he saw the package of ear plugs they had bought the last time Jackson had come to visit. His father was a terrible snorer.

"Here ya go." Gibbs tossed a blanket, pillow and earplugs at Tony. "You might need them." He smirked as he took the stairs two at a time to the second floor.

Tony looked at the earplugs and blanched.

Closing the door behind him softly and locking it, Gibbs took in the sleeping form in the bed. Maggie had on one of his tee shirts like she did most nights he worked late. She said she slept better if she could smell him when he wasn't there. Her foot was peeking out at the bottom of the bed where she had kicked the sheets off.

He watched as she sighed in her sleep and turned on to her back. The covers had dipped down exposing the top half of her body to the night air. Instantly the cool air in the bedroom made her nipples harden beneath the thin cotton material of the tee shirt. Instinctively Gibbs' hand slipped down to the hard bulge in the front of his jeans. Slowly he made his way over to Maggie's side of the bed. He sat down gently by her legs, his hands moved up along the shape they made under the blanket. Maggie stirred slightly.

Maggie was dreaming. She could feel Gibbs running his hand up along her leg, the blanket that was covering her body being pulled down, cold air nipped at her body. The blanket was no longer covering her legs and she could feel his work hardened hands slide up the outside of her thigh and back down. Maggie sighed at the feel. This was a nice dream; she wished Gibbs was really there with her. She loved the sensation of his fingers exploring her body.

Gibbs moved the covers further down Maggie's body until she was completely uncovered. He only felt guilty for a moment about exposing her to the coolness of the air in the room. He made a silent promise to her that she wouldn't be cold for long. Slipping the hoody he was wearing over his head, he tossed it on the floor. Next he took off his thermal shirt and added it to the pile on the floor. Maggie shifted to her side and turned to the middle of the bed. The tee shirt slipped up over her backside giving him a view of her cotton bikini underpants. His cock twitched at the sight and his pants became uncomfortable, but he wanted to enjoy this, he wanted Maggie to enjoy what he'd been planning all night and if keeping his jeans on to control himself was needed; so be it.

Maggie moaned into the pillow she was hugging. This was one hell of a dream. Now she could feel Gibbs fingers tracing along the lines of her panties. His touch was light and maddening at the same time. She felt his fingers slip up under the elastic at the waist and his whole hand move under the material in the back to cup her backside. His hands were cold but she moved her hips back into his touch. Then his hand was gone and Maggie whimpered in her sleep.

He was definitely enjoying his wife's reactions as she slept. He moved his hand reluctantly from her backside and lowered his mouth to her hip bone and placed kisses down her thigh. Maggie reacted by rolling over on to her back. Gibbs moved his body up on the bed, his arms holding him up as he kissed along the top of her underwear. His tongue reached out and traced circles around her belly button. Instinctively Maggie's hips moved forward to his touch.

Maggie moved her hand down to where she dreamed Gibbs was kissing her and she felt her husband's head just above her stomach. He was alternating between kissing and running his tongue along her stomach.

"This is the best dream I've ever had." She said sleepily. "If you stop now and I wake up and it's not real, I'm going to cry."

She felt him laugh against her skin. Her hands reached down and threaded into his hair. "Am I dreaming?"

Gibbs lightly nipped at her skin. "Nope."

"Good." She smiled. "Don't stop."

"Don't plan on stopping." Gibbs moved his body further up on Maggie's and straddled her hips. His fingers reached under the edges of the tee shirt and slid it up her body exposing her breasts to him. He let go of the tee shirt and put his hands on either side of her breasts. He moved his thumbs back and forth across the hard nipples and Maggie cried out softly. He looked down at Maggie, her eyes closed, her hair spread out on the pillow, arms stretched out gripping the blankets and lowered his mouth down and took a nipple in his mouth. He sucked on it gently and Maggie ground her hips up against him. He released the nipple and moved to the other and did the same. Maggie arched her back, her breathing becoming heavy.

He moved his lips up between her breasts, kissing his way up the side of her neck while his hands pulled her tee shirt up and over her head. That too joined the pile on the floor.

Maggie felt Gibbs shift his body and lay on top of her as he kissed her neck. His body was heavy and hard on hers, the hairs on his chest tickling against her body. When his kisses moved up from her neck, along her jawline and to her lips, Maggie's eyes were wide open. In the moonlight coming through the window, she saw the total desire in his eyes.

"Not a dream." She stated tracing his lower lip with her thumb.

Gibbs nipped at her thumb. "No. Not a dream." His mouth lowered to hers, he took her lower lip and sucked on it, nipping gently. Her top lip was next and then he ran his tongue along her lower lip causing her mouth to open. He kissed her greedily, his tongue plunging in and out of her mouth. Maggie found her hips rocking up against his to the rhythm of his tongue invading her mouth.

"Your jeans are still on." Maggie said as she tried to catch her breath. Gibbs had moved his mouth away from hers and was running the tip of his tongue down the front of her neck. He took her hands and put them up over her head on the pillow.

"Don't move them." He commanded her. "Or I'll stop."

"Oh God." Maggie thought as he resumed his kisses down between her breasts. She wanted to touch him, she needed to touch him, but he would stop if she moved her hands. Instead she grabbed at the pillow as his hand moved down her side to her hip and his fingers grabbed the thin strap of elastic there. With a quick twist of his fingers, the elastic snapped and broke away. Gibbs never stopped working his mouth flicking his tongue under her breasts, kissing and sucking the sensitive skin.

Gibbs tried to think of anything to keep his self-control as he shifted his weight to the other side of Maggie's body. He wrapped his fingers around the thin elastic on the other side of her hip and snapped that one as well. With a gentle tug, the scrap of material was on the floor and his wife was completely naked.

Putting his hands next to her,he held his upper body off of her and moved down her body. He sensed Maggie's breathing speed up as his tongue found her belly button again. Her hands started to move away from the pillow and he stopped.

"Keep them there." He warned her and when she moved her hands back to the pillow, he kissed his way down below her belly button and from one hip to the other. He knew she was excited, he could feel the warmth radiating from between her legs. He ran his tongue from her hip to her inner thigh and back. He moved his body down until his head hovered above the dark red hair at the juncture of her thighs.

This wasn't the first time Gibbs had done this to her. She loved the things that her husband could do with his tongue. She also knew the reaction she had when he was doing things to her like that and a moment of panic set in. They weren't alone in the house.

"Gibbs." She called out in a whisper.

"You'll have to be quiet." He teased his wife as his fingers moved down along her inner thigh. Maggie's legs moved further apart as his long fingers found their mark and moved slowly up and down along the now wet curls between her legs. "Quiet baby. You can do it."

Maggie bit her lower lip to stop from crying out as he slipped a finger inside her and slowly moved it in and out. She almost had to pull a pillow over her head when the second finger joined the first.

"I don't know if I can." Maggie panted as she felt pressure building in her lower body.

"Sure you can. You didn't send dessert. And I've been thinking about dessert all night."

Maggie didn't understand what he meant until she felt his mouth and tongue replace his fingers. With a few well-placed strokes of his tongue, and pulls of his lips; Maggie felt her body come apart.

Gibbs loved the way Maggie moved against his mouth as she came. But now his body needed its release. Quickly he removed the rest of his clothes and kissed his way back up Maggie's body. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he slowly slid into her body. He groaned at how hot and wet she was; he could still feel her muscles contracting as he buried himself all the inside her. Maggie thrust her hips up to his encouraging him to move. Slowly he pulled almost completely out and then thrust back in. Maggie's hands grabbed at his backside urging him to go faster, her legs tightening at his waist. He began moving faster, driving his body harder into hers. Maggie arched her head back into the pillow as another orgasm took over her body. She was biting her lower lip to stop from crying out.

Gibbs looked down at her flushed face, her lips swollen from his kisses and her biting her lip and he felt his own release building. Thankful for his wife's flexibility, he hooked his arm under one of her legs and moved it up higher changing the angle of her body. His thrusts began to lose their rhythm as his climax got closer.

"Oh. My. God." Maggie bit out as her another orgasm begin to build.

An explosive orgasm rocked Gibbs body just as Maggie came for the third time. Gibbs felt like he had no control over his lower body as it pumped its way into hers. His breath was ragged in her ear as his body finally began to still. As the last of him spilled out into her, he lowered his body down onto hers trying not to put his full weight on top of her.

For several long minutes the two of them stayed locked like that until he felt his cock soften and slide out. He rolled onto his side, pulling Maggie with him. He reached out and pushed the sweat soaked strands of hair off his wife's face.

"My body feels like jello." Maggie told Gibbs. "I don't think I could move even if I had to. What brought that on?"

"I wanted to show you how I felt."

"I know how you feel."

"I don't say it enough." Gibbs traced his thumb along her chin.

"You don't have to use words to tell me you love me. I know you do."

"I love you." Gibbs said simply.

"I love you too." Maggie said.

Gibbs pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her. They were soon fast asleep.

Tony had his earplugs in and the pillow over his head as he slept on the couch. When he saw the look on Gibbs' face as he went upstairs, he knew what was going on up there. It was one thing to think about Gibbs and Maggie having sex, but to know they were, just 7 feet over his head was more than Tony needed to hear.


	8. Chapter 8

The sound of the shower running in the master bathroom woke up Gibbs. Maggie wasn't on her side of the bed, so he knew she was already up. The smell of coffee coming from downstairs told him that their guests were up too. Throwing the covers off, Gibbs padded across the hardwood floor and stepped in to the bathroom.

"Not often you wake up before me." Gibbs said to Maggie as he relieved his full bladder.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Maggie said from inside the shower.

In the master bath the old fashioned clawed tub was her favorite, but this shower, the shower head in particular was what brought her and Gibbs together. The shower door opened up and Gibbs stepped in behind Maggie. The shower was big enough for both of them to use and not be on top of each other, but that never stopped Gibbs from getting as close as he could to her.

"Merry Christmas to you too." He wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her neck.

"I thought you'd be tired after last night." Maggie pulled her wet hair off her neck giving Gibbs more skin to kiss.

"Just taking a shower." He murmured against her neck.

"That's not what your body is saying." Maggie felt him hard against her lower back as she leaned into him. "I guess I should make sure nothing is wrong." She turned and gave him a wicked grin as she pushed him to lean back against the tile wall.

Gibbs looked down through half closed eyes as Maggie kneeled in front of him and took him into her mouth. His fingers worked into her wet hair holding her head while her tongue and mouth moved up and down his length.

"Hey Maggie, you in there?" Tony knocked on the hall door to the master bathroom. "Ducky called, he's on his way. Any chance I could get in there to take a shower? I'm getting kind of ripe."

Gibbs groaned at the vibration of Maggie's laugh against his cock. Maggie took him out of her mouth and replaced her hands around his solid length.

"Give me ten minutes Tony." Maggie said before taking Gibbs back into her mouth.

"Come on Mags, you'll use up all the hot water." Tony begged from the hallway.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs barked at his brother in law. Tony jumped back. Maggie and Gibbs were in the shower. Together. And from the tension in Gibbs' voice…Tony made a little gagging gesture as he turned and walked quickly down the hallway.

Gibbs forgot all about Tony as Maggie's hands cupped his balls and squeezed gently. Just as he felt his body about to explode, he grabbed Maggie and pulled her up, spinning her around to face the wall. He grabbed her hips and took her from behind. He wasn't gentle and Maggie welcomed his body, both of them climaxing at the same time.

Maggie could feel her husband's heart slamming in his chest as they stood together, her head resting on his chest.

"You shampoo yet?" Gibbs asked her.

Maggie nodded. Gibbs grabbed the bottle of conditioner and squeezed some into his palm. He turned her around and massaged it through her hair from scalp to ends, just like he'd seen her do it so many times. When he finished, he washed his own hair and body while Maggie combed the conditioner through and rinsed it out. They finished showering and stepped out of the shower. Maggie could never get enough of watching Gibbs dry off. He had the body of a man half his age. Though you'd never know it by the way he dressed, the muscles he developed when he was younger still existed. His six-pack abs may not be as defined as they once were, but there was very little fat on his body. Just lean muscle and a variety of scars that all had their own story.

"How'd it go last night?" Gibbs asked as they went into the bedroom to get dressed.

Maggie shrugged her shoulders. "Some of it is a little fuzzy. There must have been pure alcohol in the egg-nog."

"Tony told me what kind of whiskey he used. I snagged some orange soda from the vending machines before we left. They're downstairs."

Maggie walked over and kissed her husband on the cheek. For some odd reason, if Maggie drank too much, the only cure she knew would work for her was orange soda. Gibbs never teased her, but knew if she went out with the teachers from work on a Friday night, or with Abby and Ziva, he made sure there was orange soda in the fridge.

"I think I yelled at him. But I don't remember an argument. It doesn't matter. He can spend time with Jamie today and then he'll be gone." Maggie put her jeans and tee shirt on and swore.

Gibbs turned to look at her. That is when he noticed the hickeys on her neck. She turned and gave him the fish eye. "Really Gibbs?"

He smiled and ran his finger over the little love bites he'd left on her neck.

"I hate wearing turtle necks." She muttered as she searched in the closet for one.

"I like the way you look in them." Gibbs told her as he put his socks on. "Especially the black one. Hugs everything the right way."

Gibbs came into the kitchen first. Jackson was checking the turkey in the oven while Senior and Tony peeled the potatoes.

"Oh, if it isn't Mr. Clean." Tony said sarcastically to Gibbs.

"Leave him alone Junior, he's still a newlywed." Senior scolded his son.

Gibbs took a sip of his waiting coffee before he put on his jacket and gloves.

"I gave you earplugs Tony." Gibbs smirked as he whistled for the dog. "I'm going to shovel and get some more wood for the fire. Showers free Tony if you still need it."

"Probably needs to be bleached down after the two of them. Ow!" Tony yelled as Maggie came into the kitchen and smacked him on the back of the head. "What is it, you take the last name of Gibbs and get head slapping rights?"

"That means I get them too?" Jackson asked as he put the turkey back in the oven.

"No it means my brother needs better manners."

Maggie kissed Jackson and then Tony on the cheek wishing them Merry Christmas. After a moment's hesitation, she did the same to Senior.

"You sleep well?" Senior asked her.

"I'm afraid to ask what proof the whiskey was you used in the egg-nog." Maggie commented as she snapped the tab on the can of orange soda.

"You use that too?" Senior asked watching Maggie drink down half the can of soda after taking an aspirin.

"Works on killing hangovers." Tony answered. "Mags taught it to when I was at Ohio State."

"Hmph." Senior muttered. "Guess I passed that cure on to both of you."

Tony looked at Maggie and then at Senior. "Works for you?"

"Only thing that does. That one time I had to stay at Gibbs' house. He didn't have any there. I had to settle for warm milk to help me sleep. Damned headache from drinking too much wouldn't let me sleep."

"Guess that's a family trait you passed down to your young." Jackson quipped from the counter. The two old men had sat up until close to 1 in the morning talking. Jackson may never agree with some of the things Senior had done concerning his children, but after listening to him, he'd agreed to try and smooth a path between Maggie and him.

"What else do we have in common Mags? I mean, you didn't get the tall gene, you are kind of on the munchkin side." Tony teased his sister.

"Well at least I don't have to worry about my hair." Maggie tossed back.

Tony reached up and ran his hand over his head. "My hair is fine."

"Your hair is fine Junior." Senior finished the potato he was working on and set it with the other. "You both got DiNozzo hair, nice and thick, just different colors."

"Yeah Mags, where did you get the red from? A box?"

Maggie stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"No son, Grandma DiNozzo was a redhead too."

Tony looked at his father and tried to remember her.

"An Italian with red hair?" He was skeptical.

"And a temper to match." Senior told him. "Maggie has her eyes too. Somewhere in the family tree an Irishman worked his way in to add the green eyes and red hair."

"Can you cook like your sister?" Jackson asked.

"No. I can cook to feed myself, but Maggie is the family cook. Kind of like Dad."

Maggie opened the second can of soda and sipped it quietly.

"I can cook because I like to, Maggie takes after her mother though. She never needed a recipe to make something; she'd just see what was in the house and create something wonderful. My favorite was rigatoni, butter, parmesan and…." Senior couldn't think of the last ingredient.

Tony and Maggie answered simultaneously "Bacon."

"Yes." Senior snapped his fingers. "That's it."

"Maybe you could make some for us before we go." Jackson said.

"Maybe. But now we have a dinner to get ready." Maggie said changing the subject.

The kitchen door opened and Freckles came in dragging a 3 foot long rawhide bone. She could barely get through the door with it.

"Where did that come from?" Maggie asked Gibbs who walked in behind the dog.

"Santa."

"Gibbs, we said we weren't going to do gifts." Maggie reminded him.

"The dog didn't agree to that." Gibbs smiled and refilled his mug with coffee.

"Great now she'll have 2 of them. Mine is upstairs in the closet." She said as she took out a knife to start cutting up the potatoes to put in the pot.

"Merry Christmas." Jamie called out from the front door. He peeked his head around the corner to judge the reception. Maggie walked over and hugged her son.

"Mad at me Mom?" he whispered in her ear.

"Not mad. We'll talk later about it." She smiled up at her son. He stood almost a foot taller than her now. When he passed her in height, he put his arm around her shoulder and told her 'Mom, you used to put your arm on my shoulder to protect me; now it's my turn to do that.'

"What? You've got that look?" Jamie said to his mother.

Maggie patted him on the chest. "Sometimes I get sentimental, that's all."

Jamie put down the bag he was carrying and went over to hug Gibbs. "Give your Mom a break; she's had an interesting couple of days."

"Understood." Jamie stepped back and nodded his head at Gibbs.

Jamie finished hugging the rest of the people in the kitchen and asked what he could do to help. Maggie gave everyone a job and soon the kitchen was empty except for the dog that was busy chewing on her rawhide. Freckles didn't even get up when Ducky came in the kitchen door.

"Please tell me you didn't take the Morgan out in this weather." Maggie asked Ducky about his vintage car.

"No Dear, McGee picked me up. He's bringing in the extra beverages now." Ducky placed the Christmas pudding on the counter while Maggie went out to show McGee where to put his packages.

"Are you troubled Maggie?" Ducky asked when Maggie hadn't come back in right away.

"I'm not sure what to make of my father Ducky."

"You've never referred to him that way before."

"No I haven't. Like it or not, he is my father."

"Faults and all. None of us are perfect. We all have to deal with what has been handed us."

"You know then that my son invited his grandfather here."

"Yes, Jethro told me yesterday." Ducky put his hand on Maggie's arm. "Let's go inside where it's warmer."

Ducky and Maggie went into the kitchen where Senior was standing at the stove stirring something in a pot.

"Wassail." Senior explained. "Can't have a Christmas gathering without it."

"I haven't had any in years." Ducky took a mug and handed it to Senior who ladled some out.

"Mom used to make it too." Maggie said wistfully.

"This is her recipe." Senior handed a mug to her.

"This is amazing. Just like the ones I had in my youth. Shall we toast to your mother's recipe?"

Senior and Ducky lifted their mugs, but Maggie couldn't. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Excuse me." Maggie put her mug down, grabbed a jacket off the door and ran to the garage.

"Shall I get Jethro?" Ducky watched Maggie's retreating form.

"No, I have to do this." Senior put his mug down long enough to put on a jacket. He picked up his mug and Maggie's and followed his daughter out to the garage.

Ducky was alone in the kitchen.

"Are you going to go after them?" Ducky knew that Gibbs was just outside the door. He knew Maggie ran out the door and Senior followed her.

"No. I think they need some time alone."

"Agreed."

Senior found Maggie inside the garage, her arms bracing her body against the workbench. Her head was hanging forward as she let the tears fall from her eyes to leave spots on the wood below. He put the mugs of wassail down nearby and walked over to Maggie. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Maggie, I didn't mean to upset you by making this or bringing up your mother."

Maggie nodded; she couldn't get her voice to work. She felt like there was a golf ball lodged in her throat.

"I think it's time that we talked, that you heard my side of it all."

Maggie shot her father a look. "Don't you dare try to tell me that Mom lied to me."

Anger replaced the sadness that had been in her eyes.

"No. I am not saying she lied to you. I'm the one who lied. I'm the one who couldn't stop the snowball of lies from rolling once it started. After a while it was easier to go with the lies than to tell the truth. Please Maggie, sit down and let me tell you my side." Senior begged.

Maggie sat down on the stool at the table in the middle of the garage. Senior sat across from her and handed her the mug of steaming liquid. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled the smells of Christmas past and took a sip.

She looked over at Senior who was waiting for a sign. She nodded at him and he began.

"Your mother and I were very young when we met and married. You came along before we were married even a year." He began. "I didn't go to college and I had a lousy job. I wanted to give you and your mother the moon and the stars, but I couldn't. We lived pay check to pay check. I'd have one job and manage to talk my way out of it. Your mother was unhappy with me. I was unhappy with me. I'd do anything just to make things right. Then I got a summer job in the Hamptons. The job meant I'd have to live there all summer, but they wouldn't take married men. Single only. The money was good and it would help us out a lot. Your mother and I talked long about it and decided she'd thought it would be good if you went back to Boston for the summer. You were five years old and you went to live with your grandmother. Do you remember?"

"I remember Mom saying we were going to Nana's house at Hampton Beach. In New Hampshire. I remember going to the beach every day and thinking that you were on a beach too not far away. Any time I smell Coppertone lotion I think of Hampton. Nana used to bathe me in it before I went to the beach." Maggie remembered.

"You used to get terrible sun burns. Your mother told me when she'd write to me at the country club I was working at."

"Where you met Tony's mom."

"I met her when I was off work, hanging out with some of the other guys who worked at the club. She didn't know I worked there and that was the first lie I told."

"You mean the second." Maggie said to Senior. "You never told her you were married either."

"No. No I didn't." Tony answered truthfully. "I created such a web of lies about me being the son of a wealthy Italian business man sent to America to learn the culture that even I believed it. And before I knew it … one thing led to another."

"And what about Mom and me? Did you ever think of us?" Maggie needed to know.

"I did. I felt terrible about what I was doing to you."

"But not Mom?"

"I came up to Boston to see your mother in August. Do you remember a weekend when she left you with Nana and your cousins?"

"Sort of. She said she had to take care of something. She said things would be better when she got back. I thought she was sick. I was five, what did I know?"

"She came back to Boston to see me. We spent the entire weekend talking about us and how we felt. I confessed to her that I had fallen in love with another woman and I thought she'd be son angry with me. But she wasn't."

"I don't understand." Maggie was confused.

"While you were up in Hampton, your mother re-connected with Seamus. She realized that she loved him. She was unhappy with me, with our marriage and realized we got married too fast. But we'd made a family together. Your grandmother knew something was going on between your mother and Seamus and made your mother feel terrible."

"I knew they used to fight." Maggie admitted.

"Oh, your mom never argued against her mother. Your Nana was Irish Catholic through and through. She told your mother she was a sinner and a quitter if she divorced me."

Maggie snorted. That sounded like the Nana she remembered.

"When your mother came to see me, after I'd told her about falling in love with someone else, she told me about Seamus. For a long time that night, we just sat there on the bed holding each other, mourning the loss of what we had in the beginning but knowing if we stayed together, it would make all three of us unhappy. I told her I'd go back to New York and start the divorce. I wanted me to be the bad guy. I knew your grandmother would make your mom's life hell, but I wanted her to be happy. Your mother told me that Seamus loved her and he would raise you as your own. I actually met him that weekend."

"You did? How come no one ever told me?" Maggie wanted to know.

"You said it, you were five. Seamus was a good man, with a good job as a cop. He could give you a steady life in Boston with all of your mother's family around you."

"But what about you? Why did you walk away? Why did you forget about me?"

"I didn't forget about you. Never, not one day. See when I went back to the Hamptons, I met Tony's grandfather. He'd had a private detective check me out. He knew I was married and had a child. He also knew his daughter was madly in love with me and he'd do anything to keep her happy. So he agreed to arrange the divorce, get me a job and keep my secret."

"But there was a price wasn't there?"

Senior nodded. "A big price. I couldn't tell her about you. Ever or he'd make sure I regretted it."

"It was that easy for you? To forget about me like that?"

"Maggie, if you hated me and managed to let Seamus be your father and love him and let him be there for you, then I could take your hate. Your mother found ways to let me know about you and what was going on with your life."

"Like the first communion picture." Maggie remembered the dog-eared photo.

"Exactly. And that is the one that Mary found. She had known all along that I had a daughter, she'd found the papers her father had from the detective but she wanted me to come clean. By then she was pregnant with Tony."

"And she started to write Mom and ask her if I could come out to visit."

Senior laughed. "Actually, Mary had called your mom when she found the detectives reports. The two of them had written often. Mary needed to know if she had broken up a happy home. They actually became friends. Mary could see how happy you were with Seamus as your father. When you'd come out to visit, I'd have to make myself scarce to keep you hating me. I didn't want you to ever choose between me and Seamus."

"I wanted my real father to love me. Why didn't you tell me later? Mary's dad died, he had nothing over you any longer. Why did you keep up the pretense?"

"When Mary died, my world fell apart. You saw how I shoved Junior off to boarding school and from what I heard, you stepped in where I failed. You took care of him and made sure that he was loved. Your mom and Seamus did too."

Senior got up and walked over to the window and looked at the house filled with lights and laughter and love.

"I screwed things up so bad after she died. I married one woman than another. I passed that gene to your brother. I wish he'd just find someone, get married and have some children. I'm happy that you two managed to be so close. No matter how bad I messed up being a father, my children managed to stick together and be a family. Now you have Gibbs and his father and the others; Ziva, Abby, Timothy and Dr. Mallard. I understand why you didn't ask me to be there when you and Gibbs got married."

"It was supposed to be me and Gibbs and the Navy Chaplain, but somehow word got out." Maggie offered a weak excuse. Even if it had been planned she would not have invited him.

"I am truly sorry you lost James the way you did. Even though Gibbs lost his wife tragically too, you managed to find each other and find love again. You and Gibbs and Jamie and Tony, you have a family here. Jamie's a fine young man." Senior said still looking out the window.

"He is that. He always asked about you growing up. I never knew what to say to him. Tony always came up with the stories about you. He reminds me of Tony in so many ways."

"I hope he doesn't stay single as long as Tony has." Senior returned to the table. "You'd be a good grandmother."

Maggie looked down at her now empty mug. "You'd be a good grandfather too. Jamie really wants to spend time with you."

"You don't mind if I come to DC and visit?"

Maggie shook her head.

"No Dad, as long as you make time to come here and maybe have dinner or something."

"You did it again." Senior said to here.

"Did what?"

"You called me Dad."

Maggie got up and walked over to the door. "Don't get too used to it. I'm just on the trying out phase."

Senior followed Maggie to the door where she had stopped to turn the light out.

"Any chance you could maybe try out a hug?"

Maggie looked up at her father for a minute before stepping up on her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck. Senior wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. She let him go and walked with her arm through his back through the yard and up the steps.

"I don't know what to make of that." Tony said as he and Jamie watched from the kitchen windows.

"Me either Uncle Tony."

Gibbs walked up and slapped them both on the back of the head.

"Stop being gawkers and get these plates and silverware out on the table."

Both men rubbed the back of their heads and did as Gibbs asked.

"Please tell there is more wassail left?" Senior asked as he came in the back door with Maggie. "You really need a heater out in that garage Gibbs."

"That's what jackets are for." Gibbs answered; his eyes on his wife. Maggie looked at Gibbs and nodded. She was okay. He knew he'd find out what happened later when they were alone. Right now they had a room full of hungry family to take care of.

The sounds of a football game came from the living room. Ducky was telling everyone that football wasn't really football like he knew it. Ziva was agreeing with him while Abby was listening to stories from Jackson about his days as a pilot. Tony and Jamie were arguing about some play on the field while Maggie and Senior talked about the Boston and New York team rivalries. Gibbs sat on the couch eating a piece of apple pie and taking it all it. It was actually kind of nice to spend Christmas like this he thought.


End file.
